Telephone in the Bathroom

Should you really stop using
your phone in the bathroom?

It’s no secret I take my computer to the bathroom. Esteemed International Association of Food Protection president Don
Schaffner noted as much at last year’s meeting, telling attendees far more than they wanted to know when he said he got a
great food safety risk communication distillation from me – while I was on the toilet.
When Chapman first got a blackberry over 10 years ago, he e-mailed
me and proudly proclaimed, “I’m in the bathroom” (but not exactly like
that).
Today’s hipsters call it toilet tweeting.
So when a story from Canada’s version of state-sponsored jazz (CBC)
proclaims you should probably stop bringing your phone into the
bathroom with you, I have some questions.
The story quotes Anne Bialachowski, manager of infection control at St.
Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario, was testing smartphones
and tablets at St. Joseph’s on Monday as part of World Hand Hygiene
Day, and found that some devices were more than just grimy.
Using an ATP test, which measures organic material that gets left behind on surfaces, Bialachowski found some phones and
tablets had scads of things living on them — that organic material could be anything from fecal matter and E. coli, to the virus
that causes the flu.
Until the results are published in something resembling a peer-reviewed journal, they’re not much.
About Doug Powell
A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters,
and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey.
5 THOUGHTS ON “SHOULD YOU REALLY STOP USING YOUR PHONE IN THE BATHROOM?”
1. Michéle Samarya-Timm on May 8, 2014 at 11:35 am said:
Seems to me that taking electronic devices — phones, computers and the like into the rest room has the potential to be a
barrier to proper hand washing. If the electronic gadget is larger than one’s pocket (or if one doesn’t have a pocket), I’ve
observed less than stellar hand washing behaviors in favor of protecting the device. How well can someone vigorously scrub
or rinse with a PDA under their armpit? I agree more studies would be beneficial. Any grad students looking for thesis
fodder?
2. Don Schaffner on May 8, 2014 at 11:40 am said:
ATP doesn’t mean anything. We should swab people’s phones for bacteria. Maybe at IAFP this summer.
Anybody want to fund this?
3. Chuck Haas on May 8, 2014 at 11:43 am said:
Not surprisingly, I think Chuck Gerba is doing some work swabbing devices.
4. JPO on May 8, 2014 at 11:48 am said:
First off, Facebook has completely changed the way I poop. I can catch up on family and friends and stalk old girlfriends
while I take care of business. (you will get my iPhone out of my hands on the toilet when you pry it from my cold dead
fingers)
Second, ATP testing for something that’s handled a bunch, pressed against your face, and often stored in a pocket or
leather case? It’s going to light up like a Christmas tree.
5. Randy Lyons on May 8, 2014 at 2:39 pm said:
Dr. Powell,
Surely you jest when you ask for peer reviewed publication on this issue? How many studies, some available on this blog,
have there been showing the ability of the hands to transfer pathogens after using the washroom. Even your “Dude, wash
your hands” program supported this thinking. Hard non-porous surfaces have been shown to be more likely to be colonized
and used as a vehicle to further spread contaminates or cross contaminate. Again, this information has been promoted on
this blog many times. A proper and thorough risk assessment tells us this activity is a risk factor that can be controlled, so we
should act upon that information. If we (those of us who claim to be concerned with food safety) cannot promote practices
that are backed up by the science, how can we possible expect others to follow the science. I really like this blog and have
learned a lot through it and I thank you for that. But this post and the reply from JPO infer that this practice is not a risk and
that it is our right to put others at risk. And it is a risk and we all know it.
With deepest respects, RL
http://barfblog.com/2014/05/should-you-really-stop-using-your-phone-in-the-bathroom/
Copyright ©2014 Doug Powell and Ben Chapman